China’s two top leaders are doing more than ever to highlight AIDS awareness. Last Friday, President Hu Jintao visited AIDS patients at a Beijing hospital, warmly greeting them and asking about their treatment.
For his part, Premier Wen Jiabao traveled to Wenlou village in Henan province to visit AIDS patients and orphans. State media showed him singing songs with children at an AIDS orphanage, and later visiting a couple and their four adopted AIDS orphans.
But all was not as it seemed. This is what Hong Kong’s Apple Daily said (in Chinese) about those present in the village:
“Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is known to have said that he wants to hear the truth and that only democratic supervision can guarantee that things work. But when he went to Wenlou village, the local Henan authorities organized 1,600 public security officers to pose as local residents to welcome him. Meanwhile, certain outspoken AIDS patients and activists were placed under house arrest.
According to The Guardian, the villager Ma Shenyi, who is a widower trying to rear three children, said that the plainclothes police came to his home and warned him not to go out. Ma said, "I don't understand that when the Premier comes to visit us, real villagers are not allowed to meet him. The only people who can meet Premier Wen are those who are paid to say nice things."
Thanks to the ESWN blog for pointing this out. Click here to see the photo of the plainclothes cops standing around Premier Wen.
This isn't the first time security forces took over the village for a visit by Premier Wen. According to AIDS activist Hu Jia, who is under house arrest in Beijing, they did it the first time Wen visited Henan Province AIDS villages as well. Activist Hu wrote a blog entry last week, translated here at the Black and White Cat blog, discussing what happened:
"Premier Wen Jiabao doesn’t know that the last time he visited, 1,200 police were dispatched to seal off the road to Wenlou from the county town of Shangcai and a large number of local cadres pretended to be villagers welcoming him. Yang Songquan personally made sure that people who were likely to meet Premier Wen would answer his questions in exactly the way the Henan government wanted, without getting a single word wrong. That show of being close to the people was a waste of time and money. As soon as Premier Wen left, the local authorities breathed a sigh of relief; the country’s premier had turned out to be easy to handle. Now, large numbers of Henan police have already been stationed in Wenlou and sealed off key areas. The local government has also put some active villagers with AIDS under house arrest, usually sending two village cadres and two security guards hired by the Shangcai county police for each “trouble maker.”
Yawn.
I am sorry, TJ. This story may be news in the USA, but it is old news in China.
The scams you described by local officials to cover up and falsify things for visits of higher authority (not just Hu and Wen, but ALL higher authority), is as old as Chinese civilization.
Hasn't changed from before the Shang Dynasty, wouldn't change, and will not change in the next 3,000.
The only difference is the game is harder to play with netcitizens, the ability of the general public to conduct research and fact finding, and likewise, the expansion of central government abilities to better able to monitor their local governments.
Posted by: A B | December 04, 2007 at 08:52 AM
i am so very tired of chinese hipocracy, i have never seen something like this in my life!!!!
even in Beida, where i stay, "the best school" it is all the same!!! officials decided to inspect the university several weeks ago and the professors told us to make sure we r not late, we take part in discussions, pretend to be wat we r not!!! then, they painted my dormitory (foreign students buildings from the time of maozedong!!!!!),they rote a note explaining that "in the spirit of the Olympics" they will makes some renovations. well, they painted 1/3rd of the building and it turned out that it si so, because the olympic torch will pass by through one gate, to another and the cameras which will pass will shoot this part of the building!!!
i am so siccckkkkk of this!!!!!!
what kind of crooked world is this?
and the worst is, fmany foreigners who have never visited China or come for short-term studies or traveling just don't get it!! and are being deceived about the grandeur of Chinese rise!!!
but it's all sand towers!!! and balloons filled with air!!!
no content, no depth!!!!
nothing!
Posted by: A concerned citizen | December 04, 2007 at 09:54 PM
Thanks for pointing that out, A B, but I expect there are many readers of this blog outside of China. Also, as you can see from another comment, even some people within China find it a topic worth more than a yawn.
Posted by: Tim J | December 04, 2007 at 11:19 PM
hmmm... this reminds me of one of Bush's "public" events. We Americans decry the lack of openness and democracy among our neighbors while it slips away at home. perhaps we should spend more time setting our own house straight and less time criticizing others. "people in glass houses..."
Posted by: Fellow Traveler | December 05, 2007 at 08:53 AM
Dear TJ:
Just to be sure you know... your leg is being pulled.
A B has that nasty habit... in case you are wondering.
Keep up the great work!
A B
Posted by: A B | December 05, 2007 at 07:10 PM
This is typical of Chinese culture. Make the outside look good, the inside doesn't matter. It's all to do with 'face', the 'face' of the country (government buildings) are all spectacular magnificent buildings while the local peasants live in huts made from bits of discarded timber and scrap metal (in -10C temperatures).
I used to care about these things, until I realized that most Chinese are so unbelievably cultured by the government that they don't care themselves, if you talk to any about these things they are quick to turn vicious and defend their government beyond all logic, hell if they are gonna be like that then let them rot.
Posted by: Gaz Hayes | December 15, 2007 at 11:47 PM